spend less money

I just got a big raise. You’d think I would spend more money, but actually when I have a surplus of funds I find myself spending less so I can hold on to that money as long as humanly possible!

It’s funny how all your seemingly unrelated goals can end up affecting each other. Ever since I started getting serious about losing weight, I’ve been going grocery shopping each week and making just about all my meals at home, including bringing lunch to work. Initially I just did this so I would know exactly what I was eating, but now I see that it has DRASTICALLY reduced my spending. Turns out I was spending a lot of money on food and eating out (surprise, fat girl!), and by simply eating at home I save hundreds of dollars a month. It’s crazy! I’ve also actively been putting money away, paying off debts, etc. I’m not calling this goal done yet but I have made some serious progress.

I’m trying to save some money in the next few months. I’ve been pretty good lately about bringing my own lunch to work rather than buying lunch, but when the groceries dwindle between paychecks I don’t have much of a choice, especially because I have a tab at the place and they don’t charge me until I can pay.

But I would still like to spend less money on DVDs and on other people – that’s where all my money goes is every month someone has a stinking birthday or wedding or some other crap that eats up my paycheck. This month I have weddings AND birthdays. I like weddings and birthdays, I just don’t like paying for wedding and birthday gifts.

I can be an extravagant gift-giver and I always spend more money than I should, so I am going to try and curb that.